NY police bigwig who drove son to gang shooting is sorority sisters with mayor who gave her job
The disgraced Westchester County police official charged with driving her gangbanging son to a shooting is a sorority sister with the mayor who gave her the cushy gig.Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard hired Jennifer Lackard to head up the newly created police department Wellness Unit in 2020, despite her having no law enforcement experience, an ex-con husband and an out-of-control son in a street gang.City officials confirmed Thursday that the mayor and the disgraced police bigwig were sorority sisters, with sources telling The Post they were both sworn to Delta Sigma Theta.The two also attend Grace Baptist Church, an influential congregation in the troubled suburban city, and sources said the church’s politically connected pastor, the Rev.
Franklyn Richardson, may have pulled some strings to help Lackard land the lucrative job.A spokesperson for Richardson declined to comment.It is also unclear if Lackard, 49, was the only candidate considered for the $125,000 Mount Vernon police department position, and if Patterson-Howard’s reported friendship played a role in the selection.The mayor’s office declined to address those questions, and maintained that Patterson-Howard didn’t even know the controversial cop until she was hired — and said the two aren’t even friends.
“There was no personal relationship between Jennifer Lackard and Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard either prior to or during Ms.Lackard’s employment with the City of Mount Vernon,” a rep for the mayor’s office said in a statement Thursday.
“Ms.Lackard was hired by former Police Commissioner Glenn Scott following the city’s established hiring process,” the statement said.
“The City has no further comment at this time.”However, a photo posted on Facebook shows the two women arm in arm and smiling at an event.When Chase Lackard was shot in the chest during a gang-related encounter on a Bronx city bus in 2023, sources said Mount Vernon cops showed up at Jacobi Hospital....